Glossary
Key terms and definitions used throughout the platform and this documentation.
A – D
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| AI-Automatability | The degree to which a specific task within a job role can be performed by AI agents or automated systems. Measured per task, aggregated per role. |
| Career Band | A broad grouping of job levels that share similar compensation ranges and career expectations. Also called career track. Example: Individual Contributor band, Management band, Executive band. |
| Career Track | A defined progression path within a career band. Dual-track systems separate Individual Contributor (IC) and Management tracks so specialists can advance without managing people. |
| Competency Cluster | A grouping of related skills into a thematic bundle (e.g., "Technical Engineering," "Leadership & People Management," "Data & Analytics"). Used to simplify skill views and identify capability gaps at team or org level. |
| Diff History | A version-controlled record of every change made to a job role, level, or skill attachment. Shows exactly what changed, when, and by whom. Enables rollback to any previous version. |
E – J
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Equal Pay Criteria | The objective, gender-neutral factors used to determine whether two roles constitute "equal work" or "work of equal value" under pay transparency regulations. Core factors: skills, effort, responsibility, and working conditions (EU Directive 2023/970, Article 4). |
| Equal Work | Work that is the same or highly similar in content, tasks, and requirements. Under Article 6 of the EU Pay Transparency Directive, organizations must define and segregate equal work using objective criteria. |
| Gender-Neutral Job Evaluation | An analytical methodology for assessing job value that applies objective criteria equally regardless of gender. Required by EU Pay Transparency Directive Article 4. Examples: WTW Global Grading System, Korn Ferry Hay Method, gradar. |
| Grading Framework | A systematic method for evaluating and ranking jobs based on their relative value to the organization. Assigns grades or points that determine pay bands. Major frameworks: WTW GGS, Korn Ferry Hay, gradar, Radford/Aon. |
| HRIS | Human Resource Information System. The central system of record for employee and job data. Examples: SAP SuccessFactors, Workday, ServiceNow HR. |
| Job Architecture | The formal framework organizing all roles into a consistent hierarchy of families, clusters, roles, and levels. The structural foundation for compensation, career paths, talent mobility, and compliance. |
| Job Cluster | A sub-grouping within a job family for finer functional distinction. Example: within the "Engineering" family, clusters might include "Software Engineering," "Data Engineering," and "Infrastructure Engineering." |
| Job Family | The broadest grouping of roles sharing similar competencies, knowledge domains, and functional purpose. Examples: Finance, Engineering, Human Resources, Sales. |
| Job Level | A tier within a job role hierarchy based on complexity, autonomy, responsibility, and impact. Defines seniority and typically maps to compensation bands. Example: Level 1 (Junior) through Level 6 (Director). |
| Job Role | The smallest distinct unit in a job architecture. Defined by a unique code, title, general description, tasks, required skills, and evaluation criteria. Multiple employees may hold the same job role. |
K – P
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Korn Ferry Hay Method | The world's most widely used job evaluation methodology. Evaluates jobs on three factors: Know-How (inputs), Problem Solving (throughputs), and Accountability (outputs). Point-based, used by over 50% of the world's largest employers. |
| Pay Band | The salary range (minimum, midpoint, maximum) assigned to a specific job level or grade. Typically expressed as a percentage spread around the midpoint. Pay bands must be gender-neutral under EU Pay Transparency rules. |
| Pay Transparency | The principle and regulatory requirement that organizations disclose pay-related information to workers and, in some jurisdictions, to the public. The EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970) is the most comprehensive framework, with transposition deadline 7 June 2026. |
| Proficiency Level | A scale measuring the depth of a skill. 5-point scale: 1 – Basic (awareness), 2 – Qualified (reliable application), 3 – Advanced (independent execution in complex situations), 4 – Professional (strategic problem-solving and optimization), 5 – Domain Expert (industry-leading thought leadership — typically not required for any role; exists for holistic span). |
R – Z
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Risk Category | A classification of the operational, compliance, safety, or financial risk associated with a job role. Used for compliance reporting and to weight roles in grading frameworks. |
| Skill | A discrete, measurable capability that a person applies to perform tasks. In Cobrainer's taxonomy: a node in the Skills Graph, connected to roles, tasks, courses, and proficiency levels. Always referred to as "skill" in all languages (never translated). |
| Skills Graph | Cobrainer's patented knowledge graph containing 170,000+ skills and their relationships. Used to infer skill requirements, generate role profiles, map learning content, and assess AI-automatability. |
| Skills-Based Organization | An organization that structures talent processes around skills rather than job titles. Decisions about hiring, development, compensation, mobility, and workforce planning are based on objective skill data. |
| Task | A specific activity or responsibility performed within a job role. Tasks are the atomic unit of work — they map to skills (what capability is needed) and to AI-automatability (can this be done by an agent). |
| Version Control | The system for tracking every change to job roles, levels, skills, and architecture elements over time. Every modification creates a new version with full diff history and rollback capability. |
| Work Mode | The location and collaboration model for a job role: on-site, hybrid, remote, or field-based. Increasingly relevant for job evaluation as working conditions factor into equal pay assessments. |
| WTW Global Grading System (GGS) | Willis Towers Watson's job evaluation framework. Uses up to 25 grades across multiple career bands, assessed on 7 factors including knowledge, expertise, complexity, and impact. Supports AI-assisted job leveling. |
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